Medical care is no longer confined to clinicians in clinics and hospitals. Thanks to ubiquitous digital communication, a big part of doctor-patient contact is now virtual enabling care to be delivered in the home. Specialist hospital treatment is reserved for trauma and emergency surgery, while chronic conditions are managed in the community. Telemedicine enabled e-visits, mHealth, and tele-mentoring— where a remote surgeon can guide a robot/surgeon on site—help reduce pressures on the healthcare system while creating opportunities to improve the quality of care.

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At Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville and St. Jude’s Medical Center in Memphis, doctors get notifications and pop-ups within individual patients’ electronic medical record with critical information—for example, when a particular drug might not work for a patient with certain genetic traits. The computers predict which patients might need certain medication in the future based on their EMR history.